About the Book

“In September 1960, a black woman, living on the near westside of Chicago, was raped 26 times by teenagers belonging to a gang called the New Braves. Each was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in the State Penitentiary. What makes the book compelling is, one of the boys, James Lee Hardin, was innocent and ultimately released by the state with its apologies, but not before serving three and a half years in the Penitentiary. Although mistakes can be made, the book describes how James conviction was no mistake but a calculated process which to this day, nearly 60 years later, still plagues the courts at 26th and California. But even of greater concern is that these gangs still roam the ghettos of Chicago committing even more heinous crimes especially gangland murders. However, what broke the author’s heart was that he spent hundreds of hours, which he describes, trying to help all 8 boys survive outside prison. Only Hardin succeeded. The other seven, one by one, ended up back in prison, only this time for life. One was killed and a second went insane. The challenge of living a life we take for granted was overwhelming; the streets of Chicago are unrelenting.”

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About the Author

Mr. Calkins graduated from Dartmouth College in 1953 and Northwestern University Law School in 1959. He served in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps. From 1953 to 1956. Upon graduation from law school, he was a law clerk to Federal Appellate Judge Elmer J. Schnackenberg, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Thereafter, he became a partner in the law firm Chadwell, Keck, Kayser, Ruggles and McLaren and established his own law firm in 1969, Burditt and Calkins. From 1980-1988 he was dean of the Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa, and in 1988 to 1993 a partner in the firm Zarley, McKee, Thomte, Voorhees & Sease. After 1995, he became a full-time mediator and teacher of mediation, having trained over 1000 persons in mediation. In 1985, while dean at Drake Law School, he established the college mock trial program, which today has over 400 colleges and universities participating. In 2000 he established the International Academy of Dispute Resolution, which conducts mediation tournaments around the world to train future lawyers in the art of mediation. To date, students from 46 countries have participated in this program from Nepal and Afghanistan to Singapore and Borneo, from Australia and India to Lithuania, Great Britain and Irish Republic, and in the United States, Mexico and Brazil. He has written several books and law review articles on criminal law, mediation and antitrust law. This book is an endeavor to uncover what is occurring in the ghettos of Chicago where gangs of teenagers roam the streets and murders are a daily occurrence. Guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Dick Calkins